UK experts preparing roadmap for New Town's smart city project in Kolkata

Gearing up to roll out its '100 smart cities' scheme across the country, the government is likely to finalise the guidelines for the Rs 48,000 crore mega project next week.KOLKATA: A six-member technical team of urban planning experts from the UK are in the city to help develop New Town as a smart city.

A team from London-based urban planning organisation Future Cities Catapult (FCC) has started work with the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) and New Town Kolkata Development Authority.

The three-month-long project to help prepare a road map for New Town is financially supported by the UK government.

"The UK has world-leading smart city expertise and we are excited to be here as a hand-holding agency to help New Town Kolkata develop their own smart city strategy," Peter Madden, CEO of Future Cities Catapult, said.

British Deputy High Commissioner Scott Furssedonn Wood said this is a direct outcome of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to London during which an MoU was signed between FCC and WBHIDCO to work together on smart city projects.

New Town, a satellite township to Kolkata, is among the list of 98 cities nominated for the central government's Smart City project.

Officials said the project would help New Town turn into a sustainable smart city providing excellent quality of life to its citizens.

As a start to the project, FCC, WBHIDCO and NKDA have been holding a number of meetings, on-site visits and workshops.